In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, we’ve decided to help celebrate the global achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by sharing a comprehensive list of organizations, initiatives, and female pioneers inspiring the next generation of women innovators.
The Women Who Pioneered Modern Computing
The female pioneers of the technological age – The Telegraph
Ada Lovelace Day: Meet the 6 women who gave you the ‘computer’ – The Register
If You Have Ever Used a Computer, You Should Celebrate Ada Lovelace Day – Slate
Women in computing: the 60s pioneers who lit up the world of coding – The Guardian
It’s Ada Lovelace Day, So Here’s A Brief History Of Her EXTREME RADNESS – The Mary Sue
Today’s Top Women in Tech
Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day – The O’Reilly community shares stories of inspiring women in tech.
The Most Powerful Women In Tech 2014 – Forbes
22 Of The Most Powerful Women Engineers In The World – Business Insider
6 Women Making Waves for Social Justice in Tech – craigconnects.org
Organizations and Initiatives Supporting and Inspiring Future Generations of Women in Technology
The Ada Initiative – The Ada Initiative supports women in open technology and culture through activities such as producing codes of conduct and anti-harassment policies, advocating for gender diversity, teaching ally skills, and hosting conferences for women in open tech/culture. Most of what they create is freely available, reusable, and modifiable under Creative Commons licenses.
Anita Borg Institute – Its mission is to connect, inspire, and guide women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Also hosts of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.
Women in Tech – A premier professional association for women in the technology industry. When one woman helps another, amazing things can happen. Professional careers leap forward.
Women in Tech International (WITI) – With a global network of smart, talented women and a market reach exceeding 2 million, WITI (Women in Technology International) has established powerful strategic alliances and programs to provide connections, resources and opportunities.
Girls Who Code – Girls Who Code programs work to inspire, educate, and equip girls with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities.
Black Girls Code – The Black Girls Code mission is to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures.
Girls Develop It – A nonprofit organization that exists to provide affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn web and software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction.
CodeChix – A non-profit organization dedicated to the education, advocacy and mentoring of women engineers in industry and academia.
Made w/Code – Google’s new $50 million initiative to creatively engage girls with code.
GNOME’s Outreach Program for Women (OPW) - The OPW was inspired by Google’s Summer of Code and by how few women applied for it. The GNOME Foundation first started the OPW with one round in 2006, and then resumed the effort in 2010 with rounds organized twice a year. In the May-August 2012 round, the Software Freedom Conservancy joined the OPW. In the January-April 2013 round, many other free and open source organizations joined the program. In the December 2014-March 2015 round, the program was expanded to the more general Outreach Program, which engages people from various underrepresented groups.
Red Hat’s Women in Open Source Awards – Recognize the contributions that women are making and inspire a new generation to join the open source movement. Now accepting nominations through November 21st.
MIT’s Women in Technology Program (WTP) – A rigorous four-week summer academic and residential experience where female high school students explore engineering through hands-on classes, labs, and team-based projects in the summer after 11th grade .
MAKERS – A digital and video storytelling platform that aims to be the largest and most dynamic collection of women’s stories ever assembled.
Are there any important initiatives or organizations we missed? Let us know in the comments, and feel free to share stories of other inspiring women in tech!